It was a hot summer day when they met. The second year of Chaeyoung’s summer holiday in highschool. And Chaeyoung swore he could have been cooling himself in a swimming pool and eating watermelon with his two School Meal Club chingu(s) by now if only his brain didn’t fail his exam which led to him taking extra classes during his precious holiday.

He walked idly under the fierce sunlight, the last drop of water from his water bottle. Another sweat fell over his jawline onto his now wet thin white t-shirt exposing his toned abs and chest. There was no single sign of the sun to pity his miserable look. It was when he thought he might passed out that his two feet stopped in front of a coffee shop. Looked to be newly open. A new coffee shop across of Jihyo unnie’s florist shop.

‘This is it! I’m going in!’ he internally screamed.

The moment he stepped a foot inside, a cool gust of wind welcomed him. Airing every single pores in his clammy skin. He never knew such thing called ‘air-con’ could possibly had this much impact in his life. He secretly thanked the inventor of this wonderful machine. After ordering a glass of iced coffee latte and his all time favourite strawberry shortcake, he found a sit next to a window, pulling out his sketchbook and started doodling. Art was his passion and always will be. He aspire to be a great artist one day.

The cub was so caught up in his time until a sudden high – pitched scream startled him. He could see his once favourite white sketchbook turning brown with a scent of coffee surrounded it. Chaeyoung was so ready to fight when he realized the culprit was a girl, moreover, the said girl apologized profusely and sincerely. Feeling bad, he let it go cursing his bad luck for what happened.

“ I’m sorry. Sorry. I’ll get you another coffee and umm… I’ll buy you a new sketchbook.” The girl who he thought was a waitress said, still trying wiping the spilled coffee.

“ No, no. it’s okay you don’t have to. Instead, can you bring me my coffee asap? You see, I’ve been fighting with the sun the whole day and I think I might passed out from heat exhaustion at any moment” Chaeyoung said, smiling. He was not lied though. The poor soul had strolling around the street almost an hour under the bright sun because his motorcycle broke the last minute so he had to leave it at school. Plus he forgot to bring his wallet with him and he ran out of water when a boy decided to kick a ball to his way spilling his precious water in the process to dodge the ball. Again, Chaeyoung curse his bad luck. He was about to find a ‘shelter’ from his childhood friend Jihyo unnie when he saw a certain coffee shop which led him now in this awkward situation.

The waitress chuckle a bit. “Aye! I’ll bring it asap Sir. You can count on me. Don’t pass out!” she said, bowing and leaved, knocking her knees on another tables a few times in the process. Chaeyoung giggled from the sight.

‘Cute’ he thought.

Another day went by. Chaeyoung still stuck in his usual routine. Got up, took a shower and went to his supplementary classes. He had fixed his motorcycle and always made sure to double check his belongings now (in case he forgot his wallet again). Nothing change. Except one thing. He always found himself in front of the same coffee shop everytime his class ended. Sometimes he would go with Dahyun and Tzuyu, his School Meal Club chingu(s), and sometimes with Jihyo unnie or sometimes all of them would go and chill together. Just usual talking, playing pranks, teasing Chaeyoung and his poor luck and sometimes help him with his summer homework. At this time he had befriend almost all the workers especially three Japanese girl.

Mina was the owner. She was an elegant, pretty and lovely girl. She was also a mysterious person. Chaeyoung felt that she was the most mature of the three. It looked like she came from a well – known family. Chaeyoung once heard that her father was a famous politician and her mother was a well – known ballerina. He never asked her though. Not wanted to dig deeper and being called nosy. Another person he was close to was Momo. She was a co owner. Momo was a unique ‘creature’ if he might say. Chaeyoung never saw her drank any water. She liked cola too much which worried him sometimes. And she liked to dance. A bit childish at times. Momo had that one aura that even though she was actually older than Chaeyoung, the latter felt that he was obliged to protect her.

Another person is the reason why Chaeyoung always came to the shop. Well, he might not admit it at first, but he knew it was the truth. The same person who once spilled his precious coffee latte onto his sketchbook that was now left untoched on the top of his bookshelf. It was not because he hated it or found it useless that he left the brown-tinted book there. But everytime he looked at the sketchbook he would smile stupidly that he decided for the sake of his sanity and social life he would put the now 'sacred book' aside for a moment.

Sana was her name. Also a co-owner together with Mina and Momo. She was a bubbly clingy person. The clinginess annoyed Chaeyoung at first, she never like a clingy type of girl. An elegant girl was more of his liking. But something in this clumsy girl always stirred something inside of him, pulling him in in the end. He couldn’t explain what it was. But one thing he was sure about was that he always liked watching her doing or saying random stuff. Sometimes she would drop a thing or two and bumped into various objects. Those made him concerned with the girl and to the shop inventories to be honest.

Maybe it was her caring personality that attracted him. Despite her look, she was a very caring person. And she could almost always guessed Chaeyoung’s mind right and not making fun of what others described his art as ‘bizarre’ or 'weird'. The girl would also laugh at his silly bad jokes or talked nonsense things with him. Chaeyoung’s loved it. He loved how his heart would felt warm and peaceful everytime they were together.

“ What are you drawing this time?”

“Nothing, just some doodling that come to my mind”

“Hmm.. You’re really good at drawing you know. You’ll be a great artist one day! Draw me one day okay?

“I will, but you have to pay big bucks for it” Chaeyoung said jokingly.

Sana pouted a little before linking her arm to Chaeyoung’s. He must have got used to her clinginess at this point. But he couldn’t help it. The little action of the girl always caught his heart off guard. His heart started beating faster and he could feel his face turning red. He prayed the blonde girl wouldn’t notice a thing.

“Summer reminds me of sunflower” she said. “Back then in Japan, we had a garden full of sunflowers. The vivid view of a blue sky cover the yellow himawari always warms my heart.” Sana confessed, arm still linking into Chaeyoung’s. There was a minute paused before she continued.

“You know Changie, I also have a dream.” Chaeyoung turned his head facing the older girl, curious.

“I aspire to be a fashion designer. Isn’t it great? I always admire my mom. She is a great designer. I always feel brighten whenever I see someone happy wearing something my mom made. The bright smile whenever I saw they become prettier and happy always lighten my mood. You know what Chaeng, just like you tell stories through your drawings, I also want to tell different stories of mine through my designs. And about the person who’ll going to wear my creation. I want to help them to express themselves through what they wear. That’s my dream”

Chaeyoung raised one eyebrow. He never thought he would see this serious and adorable side of Sana. Sana was a goofy person for sure. She always played around and careless of things. So seeing this Sana made him adored her more. This side of Sana made her shines brighter and Chaeyoung’s heart couldn’t help but pounded more. ‘This girl is really a special someone to me’ he thought

“ I believe you’ll be a great fashion designer Sana.” He said with a bright smile, showing his dimple.

“ Hai! I’ll work harder. In fact, I’m planning to apply for a scholarship in Paris. I hope I’ll get admitted”

“Of course you will. You’re great! Uhmm.. even though I haven’t seen your work before” Chaeyoung said rubbing his nape which earn a chuckle from the older girl.

“I’ll make something for you to wear next time and show you how good Sana’s god hands are.” They laughed together before turning silent, enjoying each other presence and humming their favourite summer anthem, ‘Dance the Night Away’ by their favourite national girl group.

And like that, summer was almost ended.